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Kanbei Kuroda/Character Information
Character Information Personality Kanbei is a level headed man who personifies the words "cold and calculating". He acts as though he feels nothing for human sympathy and ethics, believing that absolute power is the one truth in the world. While his blunt and unconventional honesty may not make him popular among other Toyotomi officers like Kiyomasa and Mitsunari, Kanbei's keen intellect and tactics are what earns him bitter-sweet respect with others. Showing no mercy to his foes and believing that every instance is predestined, Kanbei ultimately wants to achieve a true land of peace regardless of the risks. He talks with an archaic nobleman's dialect and addresses his opponents by recognizing their rank as an officer (卿, kei). The closest Kanbei has to a friend is his fellow strategiest, Hanbei. He trusts Hanbei's abilities to support him and speaks fondly of the fellow strategist's memory. While he doesn't mind Hanbei's company, Kanbei gets grumpy when the youth tries to make him bond with others. He has special conversations with Guo Huai and Jia Xu in his Warriors Orochi appearance. Character Symbolism For his Samurai Warriors counterpart, he is symbolized by the characters "scheme" (謀) and "cut" (絶) and dark blue swirls. All of his weapons in Samurai Warriors 3 are assigned a color. Jade peaks act for his Normal types, scarlet soil appears in his Power types, and the blue sky forms his Speed types. His Unique weapon is named after Michishiki-no-Ōkami who is known as the deity who blocks the entrance of Yomi-no-kuni. As Izanagi escaped from his wife, Izanami, she cursed that she would kill one thousand people in anger. Izanagi replied he would give birth to 1,500 people in return. With these oaths spoken, Michishiki-no-Ōkami magically sealed the entrance shut. It's also said Michishiki-no-Ōkami was the one who shielded Izanagi from the terrors he found around Yomi-no-kuni's exit, which designates him as a god of earthly protection. Based on his name "Ōkami", which literally translates as "giant god", he is a large boulder that reaches an unfathomable height and girth. Kanbei's weapon adds an image of a wailing ogre beside Michishiki-no-Ōkami, possibly meaning that the evil locked within is trying to seep past the large boulder. His secondary unique weapon is named after Yomi-no-kuni, or the yellow springs to borrow from Chinese mythology, which is summarized as a place of death. In the Izumo-no-kuni Futoki, Yomi-no-ana is a place where shallowly buried human remains were abandoned in a cave without a proper burial. Its etymology according to the annotated notes for the Yamato Bumi is "pure darkness of the inner mind". It's located "underneath the world" and is famed as the eternal dwellings of Izanami. Though famed as a version of Hell, other texts argue its purpose is not just for eternal suffering for the afterlife. Fables claim it as a place to accept death, in which the departed souls can accept the decay of their bodily vessel by celebrating with their dead loved ones. The colors mentioned in his weapons' names are often used to represent the Five Elements. However, Kanbei's weapons lack the "white" or "light" needed for the metal within the element pentagon. This is likely a pun from his family name, the "Kuro" (黒) literally translating to "black" in English. In regards to the elements, lacking the metal means to abolish clarity and assertiveness, creating a sense of unbalanced anarchy with those in the chain. Another interpretation of removing the metal in the chain means becoming immune to sorrow or grief. It could also be a minor reference to Kanbei being without his wife, Kushihashiteru (櫛橋光), whose name ends with the character for "light". Voice Actors *Gideon Emery - Samurai Warriors 3 (English-uncredited) *Richard Newman - Kessen (English) *Doug Stone - Kessen III (English-uncredited) *Masaya Takatsuka - Samurai Warriors 2~3, Warriors Orochi 3 (Japanese) *Osamu Saka - Kessen (Japanese) *Fumihiko Tachiki - Kessen III (Japanese) *Kazuyuki Okitsu - Geten no Hana Yumeakari